Hasek, Holmstrom lead Red Wings to decisive victory

May 16, 2007 - 6:34 AM

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- The Detroit Red Wings jumped
out to a big lead and Dominik Hasek took care of the rest.

Hasek earned his 14th career playoff shutout and Tomas Holmstrom
tallied two goals and an assist to lift the Detroit Red Wings
to a 5-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in Game Three of the
Western Conference final.

The decisive victory gives the Red Wings a two-games-to-one lead
in the series, which resumes here on Thursday.

"It's going to be a war out there (on Thursday). I know they
are very disappointed, sitting in their locker room right now,"
Hasek said. "They're going to be ready for the next game. I
guarantee that."

Goals by Todd Bertuzzi and Holmstrom 17 seconds apart early in
the second period gave Detroit a 4-0 lead, which proved to be
more than enough for their 42-year-old netminder. Hasek stopped
29 shots, including 14 in the first period, en route to his
second shutout of this postseason.

"We've got to get ready for the next game against a good team
like Anaheim," Detroit defenseman Chris Chelios said. "We know
they have a lot of speed. We've got to consistently get a good
start to the period. We were fortunate that Dominik made some
good saves in the first period."

Valtteri Filppula had a goal and an assist while Henrik
Zetterberg and Nicklas Lidstrom added two assists apiece for the
Red Wings, who regained home-ice advantage in the series after
splitting the first two games in Detroit.

"We didn't get a good start," Lidstrom said. "Dom kept us in
there with some good saves in the first period. Then we were
able to capitalize on the power play."

With Detroit up, 1-0, on a goal from Johan Franzen, Holmstrom
netted his first tally of the game on the power play with 43
seconds to play in the opening period.

Zetterberg carried the puck down the left side and flipped a
pass across the ice to Holmstrom at the right circle. The
unguarded left wing snapped a shot low and left past Ducks
netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

It was the first power-play goal allowed by Anaheim at home in
the postseason. The Ducks had killed 34 consecutive shorthanded
situations at the Honda Center.

Giguere was pulled in favor of Ilya Bryzgalov after allowing
Detroit's third tally 3:17 into the second session.

Bertuzzi was credited with his second goal of the playoffs after
he redirected a shot from Dan Cleary into the net for a 3-0
lead. The shot actually ricocheted off the stick and then the
leg of the 6-3, 235-pound right wing, who went 11 games between
playoff tallies.

Bryzgalov fared no better in net as the Red Wings extended their
lead to 4-0 just 17 seconds later. Filppula carried the puck
behind the net and tried to shoot high on a wrap-around.
Bryzgalov stopped that shot, but the rebound trickled in front
of the net to Holmstrom, who had no problem beating the sprawled
netminder.

Pavel Datsyuk was credited with his eighth assist of the
postseason on the goal and extended his playoff points streak to
five games.

Holmstrom left the game at the 11:40 mark of the second after a
crushing check into the boards by both Scott Niedermayer and
Chris Pronger. The hit left Holmstrom lying on the ice with
blood trickling down his forehead.

"All I did was I took a few strides and finished my check,"
Niedermayer said. "You don't want to see anybody hurt out
there."

Niedermayer received a five-minute boarding major and a game
misconduct. Holmstrom returned for the third period after
receiving stitches on two separate cuts.

"I was surprised he was back from the way he was laying on the
ice," Hasek said. "When I saw him on the ice bleeding, I was
worried that he was hurt badly and that he might be out for the
game and maybe the next."

Filppula capped the scoring at 11:58 of the third, knocking in a
crossing pass from Holmstrom.

Bryzgalov, who finished with 13 saves, saw significant action in
the Ducks' five-game win against the Minnesota Wild in the
first round of the playoffs. He won three of four games in that
series while Giguere tended to a personal matter.

Giguere, who stopped 10 shots in the loss, said coach Randy
Carlyle didn't offer any explanation for the move.

"There's nothing to say," Giguere said. "He's just trying to
get the momentum going for us. You could tell that it wasn't my
best effort. He has to provoke something and that's what he
was trying to do."

The Ducks' power play remained in a funk, going 0-for-4. The
third-ranked unit in the league with the man advantage during
the regular season is 0-for-31 in their last five games and gave
up a shorthanded goal Sunday.

They nearly allowed another shorthanded tally in the first
period of this game, but Pronger foiled the 2-on-1 opportunity
by getting his stick on Cleary's slap shot.

"(Detroit is) aggressive, I think we have to realize that we
can't just stand there when we get a pass," Niedermayer said of
the Anaheim power play. "If we get the puck, you have to be
moving because they're coming. If you expect to get the pass,
stand and get your head up and make a play, you're not going to
be able to do that."

Giguere said Anaheim must look forward at this point.

"It's the first one to four wins, not the first one to two
wins," he said. "Playoff hockey is totally different than
regular-season hockey. It's important to play the game than
forget about it, whether you win or lose."